Thursday, 10 November 2011

I don't know how to start and from where. I want to say something about phone calls that people are receiving for Technical Support from Microsoft Certified Engineers. I was hired in this company for sales profile and in just 1day it was clear that this company is running a scam. I didn't like the way they are doing their business. So i thought to finally write a blog about it and spread this message. These are some companies with a strength of few people are making fool of thousands of people which soon will turn out to be million. In other words my company is running a Partial scam. Why Partial? i will explain you later on. I m very much fed up, because of these bunch of morons whole Indians are going to suffer and that's why i decided to Expose these fake Microsoft Certified Engineers infront of everyone specially UK People.

Let me explain you how these companies are operating a Scam:

The company in which I was hired is a registered company in India and claims to provide Technical Support world wide which is NOT true. They are providing technical support only in UK. The company got 60employees in total in which 50 are sales people and 10 in technical support.

The agents used to call people rather say do cold calls and introduce themselves as Microsoft Certified Engineer which is NOT true. These agents are under-graduates and are working here because they are offered good salary with nice incentives. NO ONE in my company is Microsoft Certified Engineer including the CEO who is running this company. Now these agents tell people that they got viruses on their computer and their computer is running in a critical stage. Now because of Indian accent most people in UK are not able to understand the whole thing, but what they understand is MICROSOFT. They think that they have received the call from Microsoft. And then people start probing. Let me give you a small conversation:

Agent: Hello Am i talking to Mr. XYZ?

Customer: Yes speaking

Agent: Hi Mr XYZ my name is ABC and i am a Microsoft Certified Engineer calling from abc company. And this is a complimentary health check for your computer for free.

Customer: How do you know that my computer got viruses?

Agent: Sir, if you remember when you work on your computer sometimes you got a pop-up from Microsoft windows to send error report. Have you ever send those error reports ?

Customer: Yes I always send these reports.

Agent: That's the reason Microsoft come to know about these errors and passes these tendors to Technical companies like us, to call these people and resolve their issues. If you could allow me two minutes i can show you those errors?

customer: ok. What you want me to do now?

Agent: I want you to click on start button and then click on RUN. Now type in eventvwr and click on OK button.

Now on left hand make a double click on Application. Now do u see error warnings?

Customer: Yes i can see their are lot of errors

Agent: Yes Mr. XYZ these are errors and warnings and this has happened because you got many viruses on your harddisk and can crash your harddisk any time and you will loose your all data.

Now after this they can convince you and will agree you for the payment.May be you should listen to this recording given by one of the user of my blog.

Let me give you the answers to all your questions which must be hitting in your head:

Is company getting their business from Microsoft?

No, the company is not getting any kind of business from Microsoft. Microsoft have never pass any sort of business to fix computer of all those people who are using Windows Operating System. You can confirm this information by dialing Microsoft Customer care number which you can get on this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295539

What is event viewer, errors and Warnings?

Guys this is the thing that these people are using to fool you. Eventviewer is nothing but a small section where windows keep a track of errors and warnings. These are not Viruses. Eventviewer is a log where you can see what went wrong in your computer and at what time. For ex. When you run an application like itunes and if something will go wrong in itunes then Windows will show you a pop-up and will ask you to click on End Now and then will ask you to send error report to Microsft. Now something wrong in itunes will be considered as an error and is saved in eventviewer.

How these errors can be removed?

Very Simple!!! For Windows XPClick on Start Button Then Click on RunType "eventvwr" without quotes in Run windowClick OK

Right click on Application, click on clear events, click on No and that's it. Follow the same for other items on left hand side like System, Security, Internet Explorer etc.

For Windows 7 and Vista its more easy. Download a batch file. Run it as Administrator and its Done.

Guys, the event viewer is a log, you can delete them anytime you want. These are NOT viruses and errors on your hard disk.

What about the softwares that these companies are installing on your PC's?

The softwares that these companies are providing are absolutely FREE. You can download them from a website called www.filehippo.com or from any other website. Even the antivirus from Microsoft which is Microsoft Security Essentials is absolutely free for Windows Genuine users. Some of the softwares are really good. Ccleaner, Malwarebytes, MSE, except Defraggler which is not required because this software is already installed in windows with the name Disk Defragmenter.

Is company registered in UK?

Yes, the company is registered in UK which you can check on the website http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/c3381491faf3125cceb86ef1c8fbfa50/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo This is a UK government website where people do online registration for companies and filling annual reports and other stuff. Now the point is, for registration of an company the company should have an office and I am not sure but i believe that these people have some contacts in UK and thats how they are able to get their company registered on some fake address. The registration cannot be fake because to get the online Payment gateway a company should be registered in UK and for registration the person have to submit his/her documents. So the result is that these companies are registered in UK but on a fake address.

How much time it takes for a successful transaction ?

As soon as you make payment it takes 6days or may be a week to transfer the amount from your account to these companies account. In case if you have made any payment, you can simply cancel the payment by calling your bank and I would recommend to cancel your card because these people have all your details saved and can take your money anytime. So be careful.

How these people know your full name and address?

I believe this is the most interesting question for everyone and many of you must be exciting to know the answer. Alright ! The answer is: these people are using a website which is a famous website. Its bt.com and the proper link is www.phonebook.bt.com

Yes guys!!! they search the numbers on bt directory and bt directory carries your full name and address. If you will ask them how they know your full and address. Their answer will be Microsoft has provided your details because you are a genuine Microsoft User. Isn't that easy to search anyone's details?

Do these companies really got Microsoft Certified Engineers?

No, A big NO for this question. No one is Microsoft Certified Engineer(MCE) in such companies. There are some people who really have good knowledge about Windows but they are not MCE. Now here comes a funny story how these people fool others. When the customer asks "How can i believe that you are MCE" The reply from these people is: "Mr. XYZ you can search on google about my employee id, my photo and everything. Just type in UmaKanta Mishra MCP and you can see every detail about me and if you will check on google images you can see my id as well...."

Lolzzzzz Every agent use this name to fool people.

Who the hell is UmaKanta Mishra ?

UmaKanta Mishra is really a Micorosft Certified Professional and have other certification and achievements as well but he is not a part of such companies. These people are using his name because he is famous on google. This will be a big surprise for UmaKanta Mishra that he is so much famous in UK. To know more about him follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Umakant_Mishra

This is the picture that these used to send to customer telling them that they are MCP.

How they take control of my PC?

These people use a very small program called ammyy which you can download from website www.ammyy.com. They will ask you to download and run this software. Then they will ask you to give ID and click on start. Then you receive a request and will ask to click on Accept. That's it ! Now they are into your computer and can do anything even without your knowledge.

Ammyy Icon

Do these people can take control of your PC without your authorization?Yes, they can take control of your PC without your authorization but their is a condition for it. Now the questions comes how? For the very first time when they ask you to run the Ammyy program, you receive a pop up with 3 options and third option is "Remember my answer to this operator" They will ask you to check this option and click on Accept button. According to the third option You are authorizing the third person to take control of your computer without your permission. So next time there will be no pop-up and they will be into your computer even without permission because you have checked the 3option. So never do that. This is how it looks:

How can you find out if someone is using your computer?

It's pretty much easy to find if someone else is using your computer.When you grant the access of your computer to these people just notice the mouse cursor. It's always blinking till the time they are into your computer. Now the second symptom is wallpaper. When your PC is connected to their PC your wallpaper will get disable and your screen will turn into a solid color wallpaper like Black, grey etc. Though this symptom is not reliable because many times the wallpaper does not get disable. But your mouse pointer will always keep on Blinking.How to remove the Ammyy Program?

Run AmmyyWhen its open Click on Ammyy {see image}Goto Service then click on stop and then click on RemoveThats it!!! If in some case its grayed out then dont worry Ammyy is not running and you are safe.

Are these guys selling plan to those who don't have internet connection at all?Yes, they are. These people are selling plan to people who even don't have any Internet Connection. You must be thinking how its possible? Here is the answer. These people tell customers that your computer is connection to Microsoft Server through Satellite and Microsoft is receiving errors which you got on your Computer. They took the credit card details from the Customer and assure them that everything is fine. This is really too much and this thing really forced me to write about these people and expose them.

Can you get your money back from these people? It depends. If you have paid your money to a scam money than forget the refund and also the technical support. But there are companies who are providing support to their customers but they will refund only when they will crash your PC. I mean, there is a time when a technician really can not do anything to fix your computer. This happen in situation when your computer is badly infected with viruses and then there is only option left Re-installation of Windows and sometimes re-installation causes NO BOOT situation. In this case only a local technician can help you. Help on phone is not possible. In this kind of situation you can get your money back from a partial-scam company but not from a scam company.Why I am saying some companies are running partial Scam?Every company who is providing Technical Support is not a genuine company. But there are companies who are providing Technical Support but using a very wrong way to get the business. If you have paid money definitely they will provide you the Tech Support but you never know when these companies can shutdown their operation. Since they are providing Tech Support I would say its a partial scam. What if they will not leave your computer?This is another reason that forced me to write about this scam. Sometimes what happen these sales people spend almost 1hr on one customer to convince him/her for tech support plan but for some reason if customer denied to take Tech Support, then they really get frustrated and try to threaten the customer. They daunted them if they will not pay then they will not give them their icons back and will not leave their computer forever.Please don't get scare if they tell you that they will crash your computer or will not leave your computer if you will not pay. Simply Shutdown your computer. And if they have hide your icons then you can get them back by yourself. I will tell you how:

Right Click on desktop

Then Click on View

Then click on Show Desktop icons

Thats it!!!Your icons are back now. This goes for Windows XP/Vista/7How they are getting toll free number of UK?
A toll free number is suppose to be only for a Company which should be registered but in UK i believe its pretty much simple. Any one can get a toll free number, even you and me, all we need is a domain name, that's it. These people are getting toll free numbers from a website called www.tollfreeforwarding.com for few pounds. This site provide facility to route the calls to anywhere you want to. For verification, they only send an email on company's domain. So when customers from UK dial toll free number, their call landed to India because of the facility provided by tollfreeforwarding.com

Are these companies changing name?
After every 3-4 months later these companies do change their names because in 3-4 months time they got bad reputation on google and customers always look for companies reputation on google and this thing force them to change their company name and their number. The company for which i was hired change their name 5times in just 1.5years. Now i did research and finally got some proof for it. There are two companies called efix.co and checkmypconline.com and if you will check their website they got the same toll free number. Is this a mistake or what? No, they must be trying to save some bucks and are using same number. Have a look on the screen shots of these two websites and check the toll free number.

Look guys! i have done my part and will keep updating this blog but if you really want to stop it, please spread this message and expose them on TV. If you need any help from me i am here for you.